Methane oxidation to ethanol by a molecular junction photocatalyst

Xie, Jijia; Fu, Cong; Quesne, Matthew G.; Guo, Jian; Wang, Chao; Xiong, Lunqiao; Windle, Christopher D.; Gadipelli, Srinivas; Guo, Zhengxiao; Huang, Weixin; Catlow, C. Richard A.; Tang, Junwang

doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08630-x

articleNatureJan 20, 2025HYBRID OA

Methane oxidation to ethanol by a molecular junction photocatalyst

JXJijia Xie CFCong Fu MGMatthew G. Quesne JGJian Guo CWChao Wang

University College London · University of Science and Technology of China · +7 more institutions

PubMed

Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Abstract Methane, the main component of natural and shale gas, is a significant carbon source for chemical synthesis. The direct partial oxidation of methane to liquid oxygenates under mild conditions 1–3 is an attractive pathway, but the inertness of the molecule makes it challenging to achieve simultaneously high conversion and high selectivity towards a single target product. This difficulty is amplified when aiming for more valuable products that require C–C coupling 4,5 . Whereas selective partial methane oxidation processes 1–3,6–9 have thus typically generated C 1 oxygenates 6,7 , recent reports have documented photocatalytic methane conversion to the C 2 oxygenate ethanol with low conversions but…

Citation impact

84

total citations

FWCI: 34.07
Percentile: 100%
References: 34

Citations per year

Authors

12

Topics & keywords

Topics

Keywords

Photocatalysis
Methane
Ethanol
Chemistry
Chemical engineering
Environmental chemistry
Photochemistry
Environmental science

No related works found for this paper.